In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo characterizes Inspector Javert as being hard and unfeeling, obsessed with maintaining the laws. Without laws, his life would have no meaning or purpose, so he is strongly affected by any violations, particularly when they are done by himself. He requires perfection from himself, which only adds to the hardness he exudes, and if he messes up anything he cannot continue without punishment, or else his "life would be meaningless" (Hugo). He is unable to comprehend the idea of forgiveness, which makes his interactions with Jean ValJean so interesting, because ValJean is one of the most merciful characters in the film. Whenever ValJean shows him mercy, he has to take a few moments before he really understands that he is not tricking him. Javert's failures, the biggest being ValJean's escaping, eat away at him, until he is relentless in his tracking him down. It does not matter how small his crime was, to Javert the fact that he stole is permanent proof of his depravity. Javert has a particular philosophy which he follows at all times. He thinks of the idea of reformation as being a "discredited fantasy" (Hugo) unable to ever work, so ValJean's good contributions to the town immediately have him questioning his life, but he then proceeds to the next part of how a convict can wear fancy clothes and give to charity, but at heart they will always remain a convict, which ValJean also opposes when he shows him mercy and lets him go free. Javert is transformed by ValJean showing him kindness, but he does not know how to handle the changes he is experiencing, so when he is finally able to break a rule and show mercy himself, he cannot allow himself to go unpunished. He throws himself into the river, showing the change and rebirth, but the fact that he never came out of the water shows how inundated he was with new ideas, that it eventually became too much.
In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo characterizes Inspector Javert as being hard and unfeeling, obsessed with maintaining the laws. Without laws, his life would have no meaning or purpose, so he is strongly affected by any violations, particularly when they are done by himself. He requires perfection from himself, which only adds to the hardness he exudes, and if he messes up anything he cannot continue without punishment, or else his "life would be meaningless" (Hugo). He is unable to comprehend the idea of forgiveness, which makes his interactions with Jean ValJean so interesting, because ValJean is one of the most merciful characters in the film. Whenever ValJean shows him mercy, he has to take a few moments before he really understands that he is not tricking him. Javert's failures, the biggest being ValJean's escaping, eat away at him, until he is relentless in his tracking him down. It does not matter how small his crime was, to Javert the fact that he stole is permanent proof of his depravity. Javert has a particular philosophy which he follows at all times. He thinks of the idea of reformation as being a "discredited fantasy" (Hugo) unable to ever work, so ValJean's good contributions to the town immediately have him questioning his life, but he then proceeds to the next part of how a convict can wear fancy clothes and give to charity, but at heart they will always remain a convict, which ValJean also opposes when he shows him mercy and lets him go free. Javert is transformed by ValJean showing him kindness, but he does not know how to handle the changes he is experiencing, so when he is finally able to break a rule and show mercy himself, he cannot allow himself to go unpunished. He throws himself into the river, showing the change and rebirth, but the fact that he never came out of the water shows how inundated he was with new ideas, that it eventually became too much.